Verizon’s Droid launches today, and already the company is looking ahead. For quite a while now, the phrase “iPhone killer” has been thrown around every so often when some new phone or another is launched by AT&T’s competing wireless carriers. The iPhone has been around long enough now, and has advanced far enough (although it leaves room for still more development) that it would be difficult for any phone to match, let alone surpass it at this point. Still Verizon has been pushing hard lately, taking jabs at AT&T in its ads, and now releasing the much-anticipated Droid smartphone. The Droid is a strong contender to the iPhone, offering many of the same features, and even some that give it an advantage over the Apple device, like its slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Now Verizon is set to take the Droid one step beyond the iPhone by offering tethering.
Tethering allows a wireless device to be used as a modem. Users can access the Internet on their computers without being in a hotspot, and without having to buy or hook up a network card. Those are the advantages. The downside is that this ability would allow many more people to access the Internet via wireless networks, anytime and from anywhere, and would potentially put a strain on those networks that aren’t capable of handling the increased usage.
Right now, only Verizon and AT&T offer tethering on most of their smartphones. T-Mobile USA doesn’t allow it at all for fear of overburdening their network, and Sprint recently began banning it, and just announced it will ban tethering next year, much to the dismay of its smartphone customers, some of whom are now threatening class action lawsuits.
Although AT&T allows tethering on some of its smartphones, one very important device is missing from that list—the iPhone. Users have been complaining about the lack of tethering ability on the iPhone pretty much since it came out, and even more so since the upgrade to the 3.0 operating system, and the release of the iPhone 3GS. AT&T continues to promise to make tethering available, but has yet to give a firm date or even an idea of when that might come about. The delay is most likely due to AT&T’s not unreasonable fear that its network wouldn’t be able to handle the increase in data transfer activity. Even without tethering, iPhone users are responsible for the majority of the data traffic on the carrier’s network.
Verizon doesn’t seem to have that problem. Their 3G network covers much more of the country than AT&T’s does, and the company is also gearing up to deploy a 4G network next year. AT&T is also working on a 4G network, but won’t have it up and running before Verizon does. And even if AT&T does launch a 4G network, it’s unlikely it will be any larger than their current 3G network, which will leave them in pretty much the same position they’re in now.
The larger, more advanced network is giving Verizon a clear advantage over AT&T, and the gap will only widen when Verizon offers tethering on the Droid next year. Apparently, tethering on the Droid will be an option, and will cost $30 per month in addition to the regular wireless plan fees.
If AT&T doesn’t offer tethering before then, they may begin to lose customers, even those loyal to the iPhone. If users can get not only the same functionality, but more from the Droid, it may be incentive enough to switch phones and carriers, since the Droid is offered exclusively by Verizon.
The problem is, the lack of official tethering capability hasn’t stopped iPhone users from doing it anyway. Many people just jailbreak their iPhones to force them to tether, which still puts a burden on AT&T’s network. If it’s not officially available on the iPhone by the time the Droid gains that ability, it may also cause even more people to jailbreak their phones to get the capability, further straining AT&T’s fragile network. In addition, it may be even more reason for Apple to allow the exclusive iPhone contract to run out with AT&T and choose another carrier for their device. Another carrier like Verizon.
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